Posts Tagged ‘Rand Paul’

Note from Bill Goodman:KET just returned from a trip to Washington, D.C., for a series of One to One interviews that began airing this week. My colleague Renee Shaw provides the highlights of tonight’s interview with U.S. Senator Rand Paul which airs tonight at 6:30 ET.

In April, Time magazine bestowed the dubious distinction of Kentucky’s junior U.S. Senator from Bowling Green as one of the world’s 100 most influential people. Former GOP Veep candidate and Alaska Governor, Sarah Palin, penned a glowing caption beside a black and white image of relative newcomer Rand Paul with arms folded, sans suit jacket and posing with a pensive gaze that suggests that he knows something we don’t.

Palin said of Paul in Time that he is a “…voice of reason awakening the public to what must be done to restore our prosperity and preserve the blessings of liberty for future generations.”

Paul’s meteoric rise to political stardom began with the 2010 mid-term elections, and his star shows no signs of dimming.

In fact, the Republican eye doctor and Tea Party favorite is relishing the chatter swirling around his presidential intentions and believes the speculation gives him a megaphone to influence the Beltway dialogue about issues foreign and domestic. In Bill Goodman’s engaging 30-minute interview with Senator Paul that airs tonight at 6:30 ET on KET, Paul answers questions about his presidential aspirations.

While Paul’s sights on the presidential post are still blurry, his vision on term limits remains sharp. He explains when he should vacate the US Senate seat, return home to practice medicine, and allow a newer voice to occupy the post.

Also in Bill’s interview, Paul admits to being frustrated by policy-making that he says is “obstructed by petty partisanship.” Puzzled by the scavenger hunt for grand bargaining, Paul says smaller items of bi-partisan agreement get overlooked: “There are many things both sides agree to. We just can’t seem to pass them because we have to vote on the whole package which is a thousand moving pieces…and I’m big on ‘why don’t we break it up into smaller bills?’”

Senator Paul also repeats a political mantra he believes should inform Republicans’ modus operandi in reaching the changing complexion of voters: “evolve, adapt or die,” says Paul of GOP minority outreach. Paul contends Republicans have done a poor job with connecting their message with the concerns and identities of the working class and minority groups.

“Those who are the most disadvantaged in our society – they’re the ones that get the worst effects from rising prices, and rising prices come from debt,” says Paul.

Learn more about Senator Rand Paul and his positions on an array of issues confronting Congress tonight at 6:30 ET in a special One to One with host Bill Goodman.

Happy New Year!
You probably had a better New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day than the delegation representing Kentucky in the United States Congress. They celebrated the holiday negotiating, voting, and arguing over legislation to keep the nation from falling off the fiscal cliff.

And our two U.S. Senators were front and center before a national audience of cliff watchers and media the past few days.

Most analysts are giving Sen. Mitch McConnell kudos for asking Vice President Joe Biden, an old Senate colleague, to join the negotiations for the deal that keeps taxes from going up on most Americans. McConnell voted for the legislation.

Sen. Paul, who was on the Senate floor and national television before the Senate voted to pass the legislation, was one of only 8 Senators to vote against the bill.

On the House side, the measure passed 257 to 167. Among the Kentucky congressmen, Hal Rogers (R), Ben Chandler (D), and John Yarmuth (D), voted for the deal. Ed Whitfield (R), Brett Guthrie (R), and Thomas Massie (R), voted against the deal.

Guthrie, from Bowling Green, had this to say, “I have said it from the very beginning that ensuring we do not go over the fiscal cliff should be a combination of tax reforms that are vital to the health of our nation. For too long, House Republicans were told they would see a good-faith discussion on spending cuts. Yet again, we have been told no, that spending cuts will come next time.”

There was no “big deal.” It appears there will be more fireworks down the road when Congress and the president try to cap government spending and attack the deficit facing the nation.

Both of Kentucky’s U.S. senators are keeping the pressure on President Obama regarding the fiscal cliff: Senior Senator Mitch McConnell said today on the Senate floor:

“For more than a year, President Obama and Democrats in Congress have known as well as I do that every single taxpayer is scheduled to get slammed with an automatic tax hike on January 1. And for an entire year they’ve been running out the clock. Think about it: for President Obama, there is no better outcome than for taxes to go up on everybody — everybody. Why? Because the only way to pay for the big government this president wants is by raising taxes on everybody — the super-rich, the rich, middle class, lower class, you name it.”

Of course, Senate Democrats disagree.

Meanwhile, negotiations continue between the president and Speaker Boehner, but the press and the public know very little about what’s being said.

Senator Rand Paul was in Kentucky last week for an appearance before a sold-out Commerce Lexington lunch. Paul came armed with a couple of boxes of his second book, “Government Bullies” and serious criticism of the president and Democrats for not addressing entitlement spending — Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid — and backing away from including them in the fiscal cliff conversations.

Thanks to Mark Turner and Commerce Lexington for this portion of Paul’s remarks.